Obamacare signup deadline pushed back to Tuesday

As Americans scrambled to beat a deadline to sign up for insurance under President Barack Obama's healthcare law, the White House gave most consumers an extra day, until Tuesday, to obtain coverage that starts January 1.

The last-minute move by the Obama administration to accommodate high demand came as it reported record traffic on HealthCare.gov, the federal enrollment website that struggled with glitches after its launch in October.

It was the latest impromptu change the administration has imposed on the healthcare program to address the fallout from a series of technical and political missteps.

Officials said the website received 1.2 million visits over the weekend and had surpassed 1 million additional visits by late afternoon on Monday. They said a call center took 200,000 calls from those seeking insurance under the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

The hustle to sign up in time for January 1 coverage could help the Obama administration as it tries to patch up a botched rollout of the president's top domestic policy achievement, a law that requires most Americans to get health insurance or face fines.

Before the Monday rush, well over 1 million people had signed up for private coverage through HealthCare.gov - which serves 36 states - and 14 state-run marketplaces, according to state and federal estimates. The figure, though likely to climb by Christmas, shows how far the government has to go to reach an estimated 7 million people by the end of enrollment in March.

Obama was embarrassed that HealthCare.gov did not work for most people shopping for insurance for its first two months. He also wound up apologizing for promising that everyone who liked their existing insurance could keep it under Obamacare.

Obamacare Sign-Up Deadline Extended Americans now have an extra 24 hours to sign up for healthcare coverage that is set to begin Jan. 1.

The original deadline – 11:59 p.m. tonight – was quietly extended through tomorrow night, without any public announcement, as first reported by the Washington Post. Because of record traffic this morning, the administration wanted to ensure that those that tried to sign up today would have the opportunity to get coverage.

“Anticipating high demand and the fact that consumers may be enrolling from multiple time zones, we have taken steps to make sure that those who select a plan through tomorrow will get coverage for Jan. 1,” Julie Bataille, director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s Office of Communications, said in a statement in response to press queries.

The record levels of traffic this morning, the highest volume since the site was launched on Oct. 1, is surely a good sign for President Obama and his administration’s signature healthcare plan.

The backlash has torpedoed Obama's approval ratings, alarmed congressional Democrats facing re-election in 2014 and given a boost to Republicans opposed to the healthcare law.